Bella Crossing Quilt

Hello everyone, my name is Elizabeth Dackson and I blog over at Don't Call Me Betsy.  I am so excited to share my first Moda Bake Shop tutorial with you today!  I just finished co-hosting the first round of an all-solids sewing swap on Flickr called For the Love of Solids, and in the midst of that swap, I wound up sketching something I couldn't get out of my head, and I'm so happy to have turned that sketch into a quilt.  You could easily use prints in this quilt {choose prints for each of the five blocks in the quilt with a great deal of contrast to create the same effect that this quilt has in all solids}.  I have also included instructions for using your remaining fat quarters to construct a pieced back!

2 fat quarter bundles of Moda Bella New solids
1 jelly roll of Moda Bella White or 1/2 yd Moda Bella White, cut into 2.5" strips
1/2 yd Bella solid of your choice for binding



Cutting and Sorting
1. First, sort your fat quarter bundles to match up all of your fabrics.  For this quilt, I used a Moda Bella New Solids bundle, and chose ten fat quarters from each bundle for the front of the quilt.  Since you have two fat quarter bundles, you'll be pulling a total of twenty fat quarters.  When picking your fat quarters, remember that this quilt is all about contrast, light and dark, so make your selections accordingly.  I used five colors (orange, blue, purple, gray, and green). We'll use the remaining fabrics for the backing of the quilt, so you may set them aside for now.

2. We'll start cutting the darker colors, so set aside your lights for now.  Iron your fat quarters and square up as necessary. Make three 5" cuts along the long side of the fat quarter.  Then make four 5" cuts from the short side of the fat quarter. This will yield 12 - 5" squares per fat quarter.  For each of the five blocks we're making, you will need 30 - 5" squares {you will cut a total of 120 - 5" squares}.

3. Let's tackle the light fat quarters.  Iron and square up as necessary, then place on your cutting mat.  For each of your five colors, cut:

* 6 - 1.25" x 4.25" strips
* 6 - 1.25" x 4.5" strips

4. From your white fabric, cut 60 - 1.25" squares and 30 - 1.25" x 2.25" strips.

Block Assembly
5. Let's put these blocks together!  First, take your light colored 1.25" x 4.25" strips, and seam a 1.25" white square on the end.  Press seams open.  Repeat with all light colored 1.25" x 4.25" strips, chain-piecing your way through.

6. Next, pair your pieced strips together with a coordinating 5" square.  Press seams open, and add another coordinating 5" square on the opposite side of your pieced strip.  Press seams open and set aside.  Repeat for remaining strips and 5" squares.

7. Now, we'll finish up the center strip across the block.  First, take your 1.25" x 2.25" white rectangle and match it up with the remaining light colored strips, which will be 1.25" x 4.5".  You'll seam one strip to each side of the rectangle.  Press seams open and repeat for remaining white rectangles.

8. Let's finish these blocks!  I find it easier to lay all of my pieces out on top of one another, to speed up my piecing. Seam one pair of pieced 5" squares to the center strip, press seams open, then add another pair to the opposite side to match and finish block. Press seams open.

9. Lay your blocks out in a manner that is appealing to you - 5 blocks by 6 blocks.

10. Using a scant 1/4" seam, seam your blocks together row by row, matching seams carefully, then seam rows together to complete the quilt top.

Backing
1. You will need 12 fat quarters to complete the binding, as well as four jelly roll strips.  Seam your fat quarters together along the short sides to create long columns, approximately the size of a half yard.  Once you had made all six columns, seam three together to create the first half of the backing, as shown below.  Repeat for the bottom half of the backing.  You can add a jelly roll strip on both raw edge sides of each half of the backing, with a total of four jelly roll strips, to add some additional width to the backing.

2. Baste your finished top and back with batting, and quilt as desired.  Cut your chosen binding into six 2.5" strips and seam together for one continuous strip of binding, and bind.

One gorgeous 52" x 62" lap quilt, perfect for snuggling under!

I hope you enjoyed this quilt tutorial; I had a lot of fun putting it together for you!  Please do let me know if you follow this pattern and make your own quilt, you can link it up to my Flickr group, Stitching with Don't Call Me Betsy.  I'd love to see it!  Happy stitching everyone!

Elizabeth Dackson
{Don't Call Me Betsy}